Prom

Track Team Members at Prom
Alex, Jayne, Sydney, Beth, Bethany, and Leah

Article on Germantown's First Place Finish at North Shore Conference Relays

Precise Germantown girls track team gets just enough to defend NSC relays crown

Hurdle teams set two league records

By Steven L. Tietz

GermantownNow.com

May 3, 2013

Germantown girls track coach Greg Siegert was talking to one of his assistants in the days before the North Shore Conference on May 1 and he made an interesting prediction, one that would prove eerily prescient.

"I told him that I thought we'd score about 88 points," he said, "and that in the best case scenario, we'd win the meet by about four points."

He was almost dead on the mark with those contentions.

Behind two conference record setting victories by the hurdle trio of Jennifer Ellis, Sammie Gassner and Leah Wheaton, the Warhawks successfully defended their title with 87 points, to edge out league indoor champ Whitefish Bay, by - you guessed it - four points.

In a rain and cold-truncated spring, the victory was a warm zephyr of a reassuring breeze for the Warhawks, who, like everyone else at the meet, were pleased with the sunshine and the 60-plus degree temperatures at Cedarburg that day.

"It was a good feeling," Siegert said. "You got off the bus, it was a nice day. The weather had cooperated for once and what a great effort. We have such a young team across the board. They can get down so easily, but they understood that because of the way the weather has been, that their time is precious and they really took advantage of that."

"Hey, the last time we were running, it was snowing out," laughed sprint ace Jayne Bertieri.

The Warhawks now take part in the Cedarburg Invitational on Friday and look forward to hosting the North Shore Outdoor meet at 4 p.m. May 14.

Bay scored 83 points for the runner-up spot at the Relays while Cedarburg was third with 77 and Homestead fourth with 70, making certain that the outdoor meet will be a wide-open affair.

Germantown's four-point margin was not secured until the final event, the 1,600-meter relay.

"I told the kids that we had going in, that we would have to do pretty well in that race if we wanted to win (the team title)," Siegert said. "I knew Bay was going hard after that race and that we could probably do no worse than fourth if were to get it done."

And behind a veteran and somewhat tired grouping of Ellis, Wheaton, Gassner and Bertieri, the Warhawks did get it done, taking fourth in 4:21.7 as Bay won the race in 4:11.57.

Sprinters have huge day

All four of those runners had huge days, no more so than the aforementioned hurdlers.

First they knocked off 0.28 of a second off a 21-year old record in the 300 high hurdles (49.82) and then the trio were even more dominant in the 900 low hurdle relay, taking 0.3 of a second off a three-year mark, as in their separate 300 hurdle races, Ellis (48.4), Gassner (48.42) and Wheaton (50.1) swept the top three individual places.

 

Siegert felt great for Gassner, a performer who se track career has been marred by injury and bad luck, but who is finally earning all she has worked for.

 

"She really has come full circle," Siegert said. "She's really capturing what it's all about in the final portion of her senior year."

 

Bertieri understands that point, too, as she anchored the 400 relay team that included Gassner, Bethany Laubenheimer and Erika Bethhauser to a new school record and a 1.37 second victory in 50.03.

 

Bertieri has worked with Laubenheimer and Gassner for years but noted that the newcomer Bethhauser is something special.

 

"She's new, but she's so good," Bertieri said. "She's the one who's going to get us to state."

Field events score well

Behind those victories, the Warhawks took four second place finishes, all in the field events.

 

They included the high jump team of Beth Kuske, Madeline Heupel and Bethhauser (14 feet-4 inches); the long jump trio of Gassner, Bertieri and Laubenheimer (45-8 1/4 ); the triple jump team of Laubenheimer, Bethhauser and Lizzy Gilbert (95-5 1/2); and the discus crew of Katelyn Turner, Maddie Stewart and Rachel Claussen (266-5).

 

A third was taken by the shot put team of Turner, Claussen and Becky Bruenig (89-3) while fourths went to the 3,200 relay team of Andrea Brown, Hannah Knapp, Sarah Ahles and Calli Lemke (10:52.4); and the 6,400 relay unit of Julia Schroeder, Lucy Delain, Kaitlyn Ditloff and Kimmie Karin (24.58.6); and the distance medley team of Brown, Alyse Barelmann, Knapop and Lemke (14:09.16).

 

Lemke held off a Homestead runner by 0.2 of a second for fourth in the distance medley giving the Warhawks two more badly needed points.

 

Siegert said that kind of effort was key in claiming this title.

 

"This was sort of like last year," he said. "We thought we could do some things that others couldn't and it turned out pretty much like I thought. I keep a spread sheet with me all the time at meets like this with all the totals on them.

 

 "I need to know where we're at at all times (laughs)."

4 x 100 Relay Breaks School Record - Again

North Shore Conference Relays
May 1, 2013
Cedarburg High School

Germantown Wins Back to Back North Shore Conference Relays

 

Jayne Anchors Winning 4x100 Meter Relay
First Place Finish - 50.03 seconds
New School Record
Third Fastest Time in the State - All Divisions



Finally - nice weather for an all relay track meet. The Germantown girls 4x100 meter relay continues to dominate with three of the four sprinters returning from last year, with Jayne as anchor.  The relay time of 50.03 seconds became the new school record that they beat twice in 2012.  Even more exciting is that the relay clocked in with the third fastest time of all schools in Wisconsin.

Check out this video of the 4x100 finish.  Click here.

 

Jayne participated in three running and one field event.  She ran the second leg of 100m in the 800m sprint medley.  The Germantown girls were in first after Jayne ran, but they finished sixth.  She ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay.  When she received the baton, Germantown was in fifth place. By the time Jayne's lap was done, she brought them up to first place; the girls finished fourth. She also participated in the long jump relay, which earned second place.

First Outdoor Meet of the Year - Finally!

Washington County Invitational
April 24, 2013
Slinger High School

After a long night, the 4x100 relay placed first, with Jayne at her usual position as anchor. She placed third in the 100m. The times weren't great for many of the participants due to the cold and extreme wind.

Junior Year - Track Season Update

Jayne missed the indoor portion of the track season due to illness and missing a couple of weeks of school.  We have also been experiencing a lot of rain with cancellations of outdoor meets.  The first meet was rained out.  The second meet was rained/snowed out.  Yes, it was snowing! 

We added a new member to our family last fall, a labradoodle named Anchor.  If you are reading this blog, you will probably understand the reason for his name.  Anchor also has his own website at www.anchorthedog.com.

Anchor



USATF National Junior Olympics

July 25, 2012
Morgan State University
Baltimore, Maryland

Jayne ran in the 100 meter dash quarter finals at the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympics and placed 37th overall.  Quite an accomplishment with participants from all over the U.S. and qualifying at the state and regional levels to be able to participate.

The club track season is over, and now we look forward to Jayne's Junior year of high school track!

Going to USATF National Junior Olympics

USATF Junior Olympics Region VIII
July 7-8, 2012
UW-Oshkosh

 Jayne - 4th Place in 100m Dash

Qualifying for National Junior Olympics



Coach Jared and Jayne

Jayne and Friend, Chisom

We were at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh both Saturday and Sunday for the USA Track and Field National Qualifying meet.  Athletes from six states competed, and only the top 5 would go to Baltimore, Maryland for the USATF National Junior Olympics.  Jayne qualified in the 100m dash, taking 4th place in both the preliminary race on Saturday and the finals on Sunday.  She just missed qualifying in the 200m dash, placing 6th.

We will be leaving for Baltimore July 24th, and Jayne will run in the quarter finals of the 100m dash on Wednesday, July 25th.  Semi-finals are July 27th, with finals on the 29th.